Regret over prostitution booklet

Auckland Council has expressed regret for any offence caused over a booklet it helped produce on street prostitution in South Auckland that prompted a string of complaints to the Human Rights Commission.\n

The 19-page booklet was released last month and addresses the concerns of residents, councillors and business people and pushes for a law change for councils to ban prostitutes from working in certain areas.

Auckland University of Technology lecturer Lexie Matheson claimed the booklet was biased because it was written "largely by middle-class, white privileged heterosexual men" without any consultation and was discriminatory towards the transgender community.